Weekend multimedia workshop explores melding of sight and sound

"Sound Cultures: An International Workshop of Art and Theory" will be held on campus this weekend, Sept. 12 and 13, as a joint inaugural project of the Comparative Literature Theory Project and the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art at Cornell University Library. The events, which include evening music performances, are free and open to the public.

Murray

"The workshops will introduce influential international artists and theorists who dwell on the cultural impact of sound in an electronic and digital age," said Timothy Murray, Cornell professor of comparative literature and English, who organized the workshop. "In addition to demonstrations in electronic music and digitally generated sound, participants will consider sound's importance in the era of visual studies, the cultural and ethnic specificity of sound fields and rhythms, the gender import of voice and spoken narrative, and the history and politics of electronic experiments in sound."

The workshop opens at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, in the A.D. White House, with public presentations by Murray, curator of the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, and Timothy Campbell, Cornell assistant professor of Romance studies, to be followed by other participants, including Ritsu Katsumata, Cornell graphic designer, who will perform original works on electronic violin. At 4:30 p.m., the workshop moves to Goldwin Smith Hall D for a lecture titled "The Fine Art of DJ-VJ-ing" by Art Jones, a pioneer in African-American new media and DJ culture. Later Friday evening, at 9 p.m., Jones will be joined by new media artist Christine Hart to perform "World Domination," a combination video jockey-disc jockey multimedia performance piece in 157 E. Sibley Hall.

The workshop reconvenes at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, in Goldwin Smith D for presentations on subjects such as: digital sound installation, by Daniel Warner of Hampshire College; contemporary electronic music and sound in Japan, by Andrew Deutsch of Alfred University; and feminist installation and sound performance, by artist Sarah Drury of Temple University. Afternoon sessions begin at 2 p.m. and include innovative work in electronic music and digital sound, presented by Gerard Assayag, director of the Research Institute of Music and Acoustics at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and Millie Chen, an installation artist from the University of Buffalo.

The workshop concludes with a dialogue with Patricia Zimmerman, of Ithaca College, and members of the newly formed Comparative Literature Theory Project, a collective effort of faculty and graduate students in Cornell's comparative literature department. Project members will sponsor annual colloquia, workshops and comparative literature study groups. Current themes for study include comparative translation and poetics, trauma and memory, material and visual culture, postcolonial theory, and digital theory and art.

At 8 p.m. Saturday night, in Barnes Hall, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. will premiere a composition by David Borden, director of Cornell's Digital Music Program.

The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art is named after Rose Goldsen, the late Cornell professor and critic of commercialized mass media. The archive serves as a research center and repository of experimental digital art works produced on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and the Internet, as well as supporting materials, such as unpublished manuscripts and designs, catalogs, monographs and resource guides. The archive will provide enhanced research opportunities for faculty members, students and scholars in the burgeoning area of experimental digital multimedia and development.

Workshop sponsors at Cornell for "Sound Cultures" include: the Rose Goldsen Lecture Series, the Society for the Humanities, Cornell University Library and the French Studies Program. And co-sponsors are: the Africana Studies and Research Center, Department of Art, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Music, Asian American Studies Program and the Visual Studies Program.

For further information, contact Murray at 255-3530 or tcm1@cornell.edu.